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State of the Union

Obama vows more action, with or without Congress

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoCharles Dharapak | Associated Press“I’m eager to work with all of you,” President Barack Obama told Congress during his State of the Union address. “But America does not stand still — and neither will I.”

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama stood before both houses of Congress last night and sent
them a message: If they wouldn’t work with him, he’d do it alone.

In his second State of the Union speech of his second term as president, Obama emphasized a
lengthy list of actions he planned to take if Congress wouldn’t work with him. Many built upon
themes he emphasized during last year’s speech.

He once again called for Congress to invest in American infrastructure, but vowed to use his
presidential powers to “slash bureaucracy and streamline the permitting process” in order to get
construction workers on the job. He again called for Congress to back universal pre-kindergarten
programs, but vowed to put together a coalition willing to help more children access the
high-quality pre-K they need.

And he repeated calls for increased gun-control legislation in the aftermath of the 2012 mass
shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., which claimed the lives of 26, but vowed to “
keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans
in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook.”

“I’m eager to work with all of you,” he told Congress. “But America does not stand still — and
neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity
for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.”

To drive that home, Obama early yesterday announced that he would increase the minimum wage for
federal contractors to $10.10 an hour without congressional support. The current minimum wage is
$7.25. He also urged Congress to pass a bill — supported by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to increase
the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and index it to inflation. The current full-time minimum
wage worker makes $14,500 a year.

Not all ideas were repeats: Obama said he would direct the Treasury to create a new savings
bond, called MyRA, that would encourage people to build a nest egg. “MyRA guarantees a decent
return with no risk of losing what you put in,” he said.

And he earned a bipartisan standing ovation from the women in the chamber when he called for
equal pay for women, noting that while women make up half of the workforce, they make 77 cents for
every dollar a man earns.

“That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. A woman deserves equal pay for equal work,”
he said. “It’s time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a Mad Men episode.”

Obama invoked his own background as the son of a single mother to emphasize that at America’s
best, even those from humble roots could do great things. He gave a similar reference to John
Boehner, the son of a barkeep who is now Speaker of the House. The reference drew a standing
ovation from those in the chamber and appeared to stun Boehner, R-West Chester.

Although the speech wasn’t necessarily a campaign speech, Obama increasingly has mentioned the
growing gap between rich and poor in recent days, and it seems inevitable that this will be one of
the themes Democrats employ during this year’s mid-term congressional elections.

“Inequality has deepened,” Obama said. “Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that
even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by – let
alone get ahead. And too many still aren’t working at all.”

Republicans were unimpressed with Obama’s vow to use his presidential authority to implement his
plans, with Boehner promising that Republicans were “going to watch very closely” for any
oversteps.

"We have a Constitution. We abide by it. If he tries to ignore it, he's going to run into a
brick wall,” Boehner said.

But Obama would not be the first president to bypass Congress in an effort to implement their
policies. In 1950, President Harry Truman dispatched thousands of U.S. troops to South Korea
without asking Congress for a declaration of war, arguing that it was a police action. President
Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency through executive order.

Congress and the courts have also fought back. In 1952, after Truman nationalized the steel
industry, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Truman did not have the power to seize the mills. And in
1974, in response to Nixon’s refusal to spend money appropriated by Congress, Congress passed a law
that denied any president the right to impound federal dollars already appropriated.

Obama also defended his signature health care law.

“Because of this law, no American can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a preexisting
condition like asthma, back pain, or cancer,” he said.

He urged House Republicans – who have so far passed more than 40 bills aimed at repealing or
changing the law – to come up with alternative plans to cut costs and cover more people.

“The first 40 were plenty,” he said. “We got it. We all owe it to the American people to say
what we’re for, not just what we’re against.”

In the Republican response to Obama, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said that the law has
increased premiums and put an additional strain on working Americans. “This law is not working,”
she said. “Republicans believe health care choices should be yours, not the government’s.”